“Every Bottle Back”: American Beverage Association ad campaign denounced as greenwashing

30 Mar 2023 --- The National Advertising Review Board (NARB) has recommended that the American Beverage Association (ABA) change its claims regarding using recycled materials in bottles and claims relating to the association’s partnerships with nonprofit organizations and efforts to achieve environmental sustainability goals. 

The NARB says that certain statements in the beverage industry’s “Every Bottle Back” campaign conveyed unsupported claims to consumers, conflating current recycling practices and outcomes with aspirational ones. The ads were widely run on US television stations and were on its website. 

“Greenwashing could be avoided if the ABA would simply tell the truth. Its ad should say, ‘most plastic bottles are not returned, and we are lobbying in legislative bodies to make sure they are not,’” Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics, tells PackagingInsights. 

We have reached out to the ABA for comment and are awaiting response. 

Greenwashing debate
The ABA is a trade association whose members include Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Keurig and Dr. Pepper. 

The ad had been previously challenged by the National Advertising Division (NAD) as part of its independent routine monitoring of truth and transparency in US national advertising. 

The ABA was determined to “provide a reasonable bias” on its “Every Bottle Back” campaign. Following NAD’s decision, ABA appealed NAD’s findings and recommendations that it modify specific claims in its video and website. In the underlying decision, NAD determined that ABA “provided a reasonable basis” for several environmental benefit claims related to the program. 

However, now in agreement with NAD, the NARB panel concluded that the following statements convey unsupported claims to consumers:

• They’re collected and separated from other plastics so they can be turned back into material that we use to make new bottles.
• That the campaign reduces plastic waste.
• Working with the World Wildlife Fund through their ReSource: Plastic to reduce our plastic footprint.
• Partnering with The Recycling Partnership and Closed Loop Partners to modernize the recycling infrastructure in communities across the country.

“The truth is that we cannot recycle our way out of the growing plastic pollution crisis. Instead, we must enact new laws and regulations – which beverage companies often oppose – to substantially reduce the production, usage, and disposal of plastics,” asserts Enck.

Innova Market Insights pegged “Green but clean” as one of its Top Packaging Trends of 2023. The market researcher said, “consumers want sustainability, but they don’t want to be misled.”

Modifying false claims
The NARB panel recommended that the advertiser modify the video claims to clarify that these statements relate to aspirational goals. 

“Many beverage companies have been duping consumers for decades with advertising campaigns like this one, implying that recycling prevents companies’ plastic waste from choking our oceans, entering our bodies, and polluting our communities,” says Enck

Additionally, the NARB suggests the ads should not convey the significant use of recycled bottles by industry to produce new bottles or any significant current reduction in plastic if that is not the case.Beyond Plastics says the “Every Bottle Back” campaign participated in greenwashing.

“The NARB raised important points that should compel the ABA to revise their public claims. A bigger question is why isn’t the Federal Trade Commission taking similar action,” adds Enck. 

Opposing bottle bills
Beyond Plastics says beverage companies continue to oppose what could be the most effective policy to reduce plastic pollution and boost recycling: container deposit laws, better known as bottle bills. 

“The advertisements are greenwashed because the ABA opposes policies such as bottle bills that would help ensure that more bottles are actually returned for recycling. They know about low recycling rates and know that most plastic bottles are not actually recycled, especially in non-bottle bill states,” continues Enck. 

The organization continues that these laws are highly effective at increasing beverage container collection and recycling rates. However, they have been adopted in ten of 50 US states. Beyond Plastics believes this is a cause of major beverage companies and industry trade associations spending decades lobbying against this common-sense environmental policy.

Ninety-four percent of the US’s plastic waste is disposed of in landfills, burned in incinerators, or ends up in oceans, waterways, and landscapes. A 2022 Beyond Plastics report found that 30% to 36% of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles are lost during recycling.

According to the Container Recycling Institute, bottles and cans with a deposit are recycled at two to three times the rate of bottles and cans without a deposit. Additionally, deposit systems reduce beverage container litter by 38% to 84%. A 2022 poll found 81% of bipartisan support for container deposit laws.

By Sabine Waldeck